Home » Archives » "Injured soldier improves"

Injured soldier improves

Feb- 3-2005 » Filed Under: TF Freedom

Link to Full Article
By Rayanne Schmid, The Daily Times

Becky and Kelly Crunk gladly accepted the news Wednesday that their son, Spc. Ryan Lamarr Crunk’s condition had been upgraded from serious to just injured.

Ryan, 22, who is with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, sustained injuries to his right leg, hand and forearm in a Sunday grenade blast in Mosul, Iraq. He was transferred to Kuwait and currently is in a base hospital in Germany.

However, with the blessing, and word that he could be transferred stateside to Walter Reed Medical Center in Virginia as early as Sunday, came a new obstacle for the parents of the 2001 Tivy graduate injured in Iraq. The improvement in Ryan’s condition meant that the military would no longer fly the parents, free of charge, to see their son, nor would it pay for their accomodations.

Going to see Ryan

Becky, director of the Children’s Ark child care center, seemed to take the news of the pending expense in stride while continuing to focus on her son’s condition.

“We are going to have to do it on our own,” she said.

The family won’t be alone, though, in gathering money for the trip. The First United Methodist Church — Kerrville, began a fund to allow the Crunk’s daughter, Jordan, to travel with them when the military still was offering to fly the parents for free.

According to their minister, Pastor Warren Hornung, “So far, we’ve collected $2,942.30.”

When he heard of Ryan’s status change and the additional costs, Hornung replied, “That’s another good reason to keep doing this. ... We’ll just plug away and hope it works well for them.”

He added that it will “take some money to get (to Virgina), especially if they can’t get tickets in advance.”

Others have joined in to help the cause, Becky said.

Related Article:

Family to visit injured soldier - The Daily Times

This is a situation we've seen before, where an improvement can mean that the Army is no longer responsible for transportation costs to reunite a family. I'm very relieved to hear that this family is receiving strong support from their community. While we certainly can't guarantee anything, please let us know if you hear of a situation like this in the future. We've made a few contacts along the way that might be able to help.


Advertisements